How to Make Homemade, Canned Salsa

Right now is a FAB time of year to grab some good produce and can or freeze it. I personally have never canned and am much more the freezing kinda gal but I do have people who know what they’re doing.

Tomatoes are one thing that are super good and inexpensive right now but they won’t be soon so I highly recommend grabbing a bunch and getting creative. I’m gonna run two recipes on the blog this week and next: One for canned salsa and the next for freezer spaghetti sauce. Today is the salsa, stick around for the sauce or just sign up for my emails. You may win $100 as well as gaining savings tips!

Thanks Beth for this!

Easy Salsa

1) Blanch 6 lbs. or about 8 cups of roma tomatoes in boiling water on the stove and place them in ice cold water in my sink.

2) Skin the tomatoes and diced into about 1/2 inch pieces.

3) Mix with a packet (she got hers from her husband’s farmstand, VanDerGriend’s Red Barn, Lansing, IL) and with vinegar. Following the directions.

4) Bring to a boil.5) Put jars on light rinse in dishwasher or put hot water in the jars for a few minutes.

6) Put salsa in hot, empty jars using a ladle and funnel up to about 1/4 inch from the top.

7) Wipe off mouth of jar with a clean rag and place lid and ring on jar tighly. This is hot packing jars, and you don’t need to process them. If a jar does not seal, you can try the process again or just put in fridge and use in the next 1-2 weeks.

With a bit more time and energy, you can actually make salsa from scratch. Here’s the recipe for that. Once it’s made, you will can it the same as above.

Homemade Salsa

Ingredients

8 c. tomatoes (blanched, diced , and no skins)

8-10 jalapeno peppers ( chopped, take seeds out and add as needed later)

3 onions, chopped

1/2 c. white vinegar

1 T. garlic or garlic powder

1 T. ground pepper

1 T. salt

1 (2oz.) can tomato paste

Directions

Bring to boil and simmer 1 1/2 hour.

Place in jars as above.

Makes 5 pints.

Just a couple notes, you may want to use gloves when cutting up jalapeno’s b/c can burn your hands.

Add jalapeno seeds depending on how hot the peppers are and how hot you like your salsa. I’ve found that some years, the peppers themselves are hot enough without using any seeds.